One Step Forward & One Step Back

So I’m allowed to get in the pool. ROM will limit me to pretty much just kicking, but I can now submerge any of the scar tissue. I plan to become the best kickboard kicker ever. My current goal is to do 10×100 on 1:45 (SCY) by the end of June (if not earlier). That was a nice step forward. I’m really looking forward to get in the pool. So that was a nice step forward.

But there was also a *bit* of a step back. It was actually more like a step that I thought I’d get to take forward, and then didn’t actually get to. After seeing my super-duper ortho surgeon today, he said he was just really worried about me doing anything where I might slip and fall. It wasn’t the running that worried him, it was the risk of taking a misstep and needing to put more weight than I should on the collarbone. There is just a wisp of bone connecting the butterflied center piece to the distal end of the clavicle. There’s a connection between the two – which is great – but it’s very thin right now. I saw the x-ray, and I understand the doctor’s caution. So it will likely be a month until there is enough bone buildup that I can run. Bones take 3 months (about) to fully heal, so it might be two more months, but I’m remaining optimistic that – as I did before this visit – that it will be as soon as it can be.

I’ve got a good plan to balance kicking in the pool, riding my brand new CycleOps trainer, and doing stairmaster. So I’m really looking forward to actually do some “triathlon” training. Not the traditional triathlon – kickboard, ride inside, climb stairs – but a triathlon nonetheless.

Don't know if any of your contacts have this – (alter g treadmill)http://www.alter-g.com/. Know that Ritz uses them when he has injuries. Would probably be at some kind of Olympic or University facility. Don't see how it will help with your clavicle, but maybe it will reduce impact on your lower body and you might not be unbalanced. Either way if you have access to one, when you do start running you could try it.

Hey Daddio, it's good to read that you're taking strides. I think about you and Jill all the time, am feel thankful the situation wasn't worse. You'll be out there in no time. Consider in the grand scheme of things, this is all but a blip in time. Patience, it's the hardest thing. 🙂

I share your pain man (well maybe not as severe of an injury as yours was) but I busted my clavicle crashing the bike at IMLP last July and it was a road back to recovery for me too. It's nothing that you can't get thru and believe me when I say that when you race again, and EVERY time that you race, you will race with a new found purpose….

Everyone will tell you that you'll come back stronger blah, blah, blah. And that's all stuff that you don't want to hear right now. I've been there, it sucks. You won't know it until you go thru it but it's totally true. You will be stronger upon your return. The rest will do you good (even though it's probably driving you crazy right now) Every race you do will be a testament to getting back at it and not letting anything get you down. I know it's hard to get excited about it now, but you thought you were speedy before the accident? You will be SILLY fast once you're back at it.

Be strong brother, you have a lot of people pulling for you. Recover slow, recover fully and be well.